6 Tips to Reduce Toddler Screen Time (And Why a New Study Says we Really Should)

Some days the television proves the perfect entertainment for our toddlers when they are having a hard time or when we need a few minutes break. Plus, the kids love it! Unfortunately, those few minutes of screen time often drag on much longer. A new study forces us to ask, “Is the ease of toddler TV worth the potential long-term consequences?” As it looks like the answer is, “Probably not,” here are practical tips to reduce toddler screen time.

I totally get it.

We have all been in that grocery line when our toddler decides it is suddenly past naptime and a fit ensues. The dinner dilemma is another universal experience: the moment you start making dinner is the precise time your toddler needs every bit of your attention or a screaming tantrum will follow. Sometimes we really do need a distraction or for our child to play independently. Enter the screens.

Screen-Free is so hard because screens are so easy!

Screens seem to solve our problems. They entertain our kids and keep them busy so we can momentarily focus on other things. In the short term screens do solve those problems.

However, we really do want what’s best for our kids in the long-run, not just what’s easy today. With that in mind, a recently published study is important for our decision making.

The Scientific Study about Toddler TV

A new study from the University of Montreal and published in Preventive Medicine studied the lives of about 2,000 Canadian youth. This longitudinal study began when the babies were five months old. As the children reached the age of two, their parents reported on their daily TV viewing. At the age of 13, the children reported about their own various lifestyle and behavioral habits.

The researchers gathered copious amounts of data from each family and sought to adjust for other environmental or confounding factors so that the conclusions would be based upon toddler TV viewing.

The results were pretty astounding.

Long-Term Consequences of Toddler TV

For every one hour increase in television viewing at age two, the 13-year-olds had an 8.2% increase in unhealthy eating habits, 10.1% decrease in eating breakfast on weekdays, 13.3% increase in body mass index, 4.7% decrease in student engagement, and 5.8% increase in current (13-year-old) screen time.

Put generally, too much toddler TV negatively impacts the physical health and scholastic behavior of individuals into adolescence.

Why the Effects of Screen Time Might Last So Long

When we consider that “Recent brain research indicates that birth to age three are the most important years in a child’s development,” it might not surprise us that toddler habits in general affect our kids for years to come.

Authors of the study drew interesting conclusions as to how screen time specifically might have such lasting effects on children.

Sedentary Activities

When kids watch TV, they are enjoying and learning to favor sedentary activities. Researcher Isabelle Simonato said, “If they learn to prefer effortless leisure activities at a very young age, they likely won’t think much of non-leisure ones, like school, when they’re older.”

This preference for sedentary activities also coincides with the health challenges faced by the teenagers who watched more TV as toddlers.

Easily Distracted

Additionally, a professor involved in the research, Linda Pagani, explained that when children watch too much TV they miss out on important opportunities to learn focus and self-control.

As this study was conducted before the advent of smartphones and tablets, it is highly likely that the practice of distracting toddlers with screens has only increased. It is so easy now to hand a smartphone to a toddler for entertainment while waiting in a line or at an event, instead of encouraging patience and self-discipline.

Pagani said, “Using distraction as a reward to help children behave in situations where they should be learning self-control sets them on a trajectory where they will seek out distraction when faced with demands for cognitive effort.”

This coping mechanism of seeking distraction likely led to the adolescents’ decreased engagement in school and increased teenage screen time.

Pagani observed, “This study tells us that overindulgent lifestyle habits begin in early childhood and seem to persist throughout the life course. An effortless existence creates health risks.”

With greater understanding of the possible long-term consequences, we may want to reduce the time our own toddlers spend with screens. Here are some tips for doing just that.

Six Practical Tips to Reduce Toddler Screen Time

1. Be Convinced that it is Worth it to Reduce Toddler Screen Time

The good news is that just as increased television time had negative long-term effects on children, less screen time guarded against those negative effects in the long run. We have a great opportunity to set our children on a path of health and positive behavioral choices.

Remember that reducing screen time is an incredible step to increase enjoyment of healthy activities, focus, patience, and work ethic.

While it takes more effort on our part to teach and interact with our little ones rather than sitting them in front of a screen, we can be motivated as we remember that the benefits are worth it.

We can be fully convinced of the detrimental effects of too much screen time and the benefits of active play, but the commitment to less screen time is easier to make than it is to uphold. A new survey shows that, even when parents want to limit their kids technology use, they often don’t.

These following tips are practical ways to help you when turning on or handing over the screen seems easiest.

2. Try these Ideas when You Need Your Toddler to Be Distracted or Wait Patiently

Think about the times you use screens. It is often in line at the grocery store or waiting for a table at a restaurant. In the long run, try to teach your child patience.

In the moment, it’s helpful to have ideas to distract or help your child wait nicely. The next time you feel like turning on a screen is your only option, try some of the following simple, practical ideas.

• Go for the good old-fashioned patty-cake or peek-a-boo.
• Start pointing at specific things around you and discussing them.
• Count your toddler’s fingers, then your own.
• Sing a song with actions.
• Hug, rock gently, or dance with your toddler.
• Mimic animal sounds.
• Point to and name different body parts. Teach a new one like the clavicle.
• Sing the Itsy-Bitsy Spider and when it rains tickle your toddler.
• Use a small object to play hide and seek in your hands and pockets.
• Cover your face with your hands. Move your hands and make a silly face. Repeat, revealing a different face each time.

Teach your child to find joy and knowledge in the world around us.

3. Try these Ideas when You Need Your Toddler to Play Independently

Another time we turn to screens is when we need a moment to get something done, whether that’s dinner, work, cleaning the house, or napping because we’re sick, pregnant, or simply exhausted.

Here are some ideas for independent toddler play.

• Pull the high chair close to where you are working. Give your toddler a lump of playdough and some kitchen manipulatives.
• Create your own ball pit using a portable crib and large bag of plastic balls.
• Settle your toddler snuggled in a blanket on the couch with a large stack of board books.
• Put your toddler in a stationary jumping toy or on a riding toy.
• Present a bag of blocks, car, and plastic tub for imaginative play.
• Give your toddler a bowl of round cereal or pasta with holes for stringing on a yarn or plastic straw.
• Provide a coloring book and crayons in the high chair.
• Pull out some of your pots and spatulas. Let your toddler bake or pound.
• Get out a flashlight.
• Put contact paper on the table or taped to a wall sticky side up. Provide paper bits, pom-poms, or other random materials to stick on the paper.

Encourage your child to value activities that require thought and movement.

4. Set a Daily Quiet Time

Many toddlers don’t get the recommended amount of sleep. Toddlers should take a daily nap. This nap helps them get enough sleep with the adjoining benefits such as health, growth, and stabilized emotions.

Additionally, nap time is a great time for us to get those things done that we need or want to do without relying on screens to take care of our toddlers.

If your toddler fights the nap, institute a daily quiet time. (You can also have a quiet time in addition to nap if needed.) A great way to do quiet time is to read a story together to calm down, then have the child sit in bed with a stack of books.

The child can look at books, rest quietly, or sleep. My kids usually end up asleep. 😉

Quiet time works best for us when we are consistent about it.

5. Offer Rewards Other than Screen Time

Positive reinforcement is a great way to teach our kids. We should keep in mind though, that studies show that our kids tend to have increased future participation in activities that we offer as reward.

As we offer rewards other than screen time, we reduce toddler screen time in general. A few other ideas for rewards include playing a favorite game, visiting a park, making a special craft, or doing anything else your child enjoys.

If screens serve as a reward in your home, take the time right now to brainstorm other ideas that would feel like a reward for your child specifically.

6. Reduce Your Own Screen Time

We hear over and over that children learn through modeling. The same applies to screen use. Studies show that as a mother’s screen use increases, so does her children’s.

We can teach our kids responsible technology use through our conscientious example.

Related: One Social Media Tip that Will Help Parents Live their Best Life

My Honest Confession

As I sit here making the final changes on this post and staring at my laptop screen, my three-year-old is watching a movie with her cousin.

How’s that for hypocritical. 🙂

In truth, it’s reality. And I hope it’s encouraging for you.

We don’t have to be perfect at this parenting thing. We don’t have to go screen-free tomorrow, or ever for that matter if it’s not best for our family. Maybe we can just go a little less screen tomorrow than we did today.

Surely, however, we can be aware of the consequences that accompany our choices. Then we can be deliberate about our toddler’s screen use. As we’re honest with ourselves, we can recognize what habits we’re teaching our kids, and that’s where a great power lies…in habits.

New Habits for Long-term Health

With a toolbox of tricks up our sleeve, we can encourage healthy long-term habits for our toddlers. However, if our child is used to screen time or if we habitually turn the screen on for a moment of peace, we will both need to form new habits in order to reduce toddler screen time.

Remember that habits and routines take time to develop. One study showed that it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days to form a new habit, so stick with it. Spurts of independent play and patient waiting might be short to start. As we consistently offer alternatives to the screen, these times will become longer and easier. Eventually new habits will flourish.

These habits are powerful. “The thoughtful intentional mind is easily derailed and people tend to fall back on habitual behaviors. Forty percent of the time we’re not thinking about what we’re doing. Habits allow us to focus on other things” (Wendy Wood).

That is what the University of Montreal study teaches us. Habits formed in childhood persist into adolescence, with their resulting consequences.

So let’s examine what habits we are instilling in our children. As we reduce toddler screen time, we take an important step in helping our toddlers build an early love for activities that require energy from the mind and body. We can show our little ones that they can be patient and do hard things. When we teach our kids these important principles, we set them on a positive course of long-term health and learning.

What challenges do you have with toddler screen time? How do you reduce that time? Please share in the comments.

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